Preston-Carling District Secondary Plan 1.0 INTRODUCTION This Chapter contains a Secondary Plan for the Preston-Carling District. The purpose of this Plan is to provide more detailed area - based policy direction to guide both public and the private development, including public realm investment, within the Preston-Carling District over the next 20 years. The Preston-Carling District is primarily an Official Plan-designated Mixed-Use Centre, a design priority area, and a target area for intensification. As part of the broad change that is occurring in the city, the District has attracted a number of ambitious development projects in recent years and has emerged as one of the most significant re-urbanization areas in the city. The Preston-Carling District will continue to attract development interest and evolve, and will become the south western edge and gateway to the city’s future larger downtown. This Secondary Plan is intended to guide an orderly transformation of the Preston-Carling area into a future downtown District. Section 2 of this Plan describes the planning area where the Secondary Plan policies will apply. Section 3 outlines the vision for the Preston-Carling District. The Plan’s policies pertaining to land use and built form, public realm, servicing, and housing can be found in Sections 4, 5, 6, and 7. The Plan concludes with policies intended to guide its interpretation and implementation in Sections 8 and 9. This Secondary Plan is City Council’s policy direction for all municipal actions, including public works, site plan reviews, Zoning By-law amendments, and Committee of Adjustment applications in the Preston-Carling District. The various sections in the Plan are closely linked and are not meant to be read in isolation. Proponents should review all sections of this Plan, in addition to the applicable policies in Volume 1 of the Official Plan, when considering and preparing proposals for new public and private development in the District. 2.0 PLANNING AREA This chapter applies to the Preston-Carling District, bounded on the north by Highway 417, on the east by Rochester Street, on the south by Carling Avenue, Prince of Wales Drive and the Central Experiment Farm, on the west by Maple Drive, Bayswater Avenue, Sherwood Drive, Breezehill Avenue South, Hickory Street, Loretta Avenue South, Beech Street, and Railway Street. 3.0 VISION 1 The Preston-Carling District is a place with a unique history, people, and culture, surrounded by federal government facilities, family-friendly neighbourhoods and an abundant supply of beautiful open spaces. It has become one of the most important re-urbanization areas in the city in recent years, and will over time emerge as the south-western gateway to the city’s larger future downtown. With enhanced vitality and quality, the District will continue to be home to a diverse group of people, and create new opportunities for business, tourism, employment, and desirable services. Some of the city’s tallest and finest mixed-use buildings will cluster around the Carling Avenue O-Train/future light rail transit (LRT) station. These buildings will form a new, exciting, and distinctive downtown skyline with transition towards the adjacent stable low-rise residential neighbourhoods. Facing Dows Lake and the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site, one of the most significant tourism and recreation destinations in the National Capital Region, these buildings will collectively present an image that is important not only to the City but also to the entire country. Preston Street as well as the neighbourhood known as Little Italy are defining elements of the District’s identity. They will continue to be a human scale place to attract businesses, families, and facilitate social, economic, and cultural interaction and innovation. The enhanced public realm throughout the area will allow for festivals such as the traditional Italian Week to continuously celebrate the culture and people of this colourful District. The development of a new hospital south of Carling Avenue will make the District an important employment magnet and a centre for community care and research. The new hospital, surrounded by the Central Experimental Farm to the west and south and by a vibrant urban context to the north and east, will be an architectural anchor in the landscape Greener and more urban, the District will see the return of large street trees that historically existed in the area and an expanded network of urban spaces. Ev Tremblay Park will be enhanced and expanded through design and extensive programming to service the existing and new residents and families. New urban squares and plazas with public arts will rhythmically dot the landscape. Continuous tree canopies will beautify the streets and create a much more pleasant and comfortable place to walk, bike, sit, and congregate. The O- Train/future LRT corridor will be managed and enhanced to re-stitch the City’s urban ecological fabric that reaches from Dows Lake to the Ottawa River. A major hub on the City’s rapid transit network, accessibility and mobility will be greatly improved throughout the District. The north-south O-train will become a double-track LRT line with more frequent train services. The east-west Carling transit corridor will also be enhanced 2 and in the long term will see an at-grade LRT. Tree-lined streets with generous sidewalks and dedicated bike lanes, multi-use pathways, new and enhanced crossings over the north-south O-Train/future LRT, mid-block passages, as well as conveniently located bicycle parking racks will make “pedestrian first” a reality and cycling a safe, convenient, efficient option for traveling. Vehicular movement will be calmed and move more slowly and accessibility for delivery and emergency services will be enhanced for businesses and residents. Public parking will be conveniently located on street and under a number of mixed-use buildings for visitors. The Preston-Carling District has a memorable past. It is a key location for change as called for by the Official Plan and is emerging as the southern and western extent of Ottawa’s downtown area. The people and the cultural DNA that constructed the character of the neighbourhood will continue to guide the evolution of the District towards an exciting, animated, green, and highly accessible place with enhanced rapid transit services. More people will live, work, and visit this dynamic and distinctive urban destination that is important not only to the neighbourhood, but also to the City. 4.0 LAND USE AND BUILT FORM The future Preston-Carling District will be a mixed use downtown community comprised of a number of integrated land use character areas conveniently connected by a network of streets, pathways, bridges, parks, squares and other open spaces. The District is primarily a Mixed- Use Centre designated in Volume 1 of the Official Plan. The Official Plan designates the majority of Preston Street as a Traditional Mainstreet and a portion of Carling Avenue within the District as an Arterial Mainstreet. This section provides detailed land use policies for each land use character area. It also establishes criteria for the key built form elements that are important to the community in defining the quality and characteristics of the physical environment of the Preston-Carling District. 4.1 Land Use Character Areas The following land use policies refer to Schedule A Land Use Character Areas and Schedule B Heights and Tower Location, and provide specific directions for various land use character areas. While land use policies set out the maximum building height that may be permitted, the developments shall demonstrate that the built form criteria outlined in Section 4.2 of this Plan are met before the permitted maximum height can be approved. The developments will also be expected to contribute to the public realm improvements detailed in Section 5 of this Plan. 4.1.1 Station Area 3 Centred around the Carling Avenue O-Train/future LRT station along Carling and Champagne Avenues, the Station Area will incorporate a wide range of transit supportive uses and see the tallest buildings and the highest densities in the entire District. A gradual reduction in height and density from the centre towards the surrounding neighbourhoods as well as Dows Lake and the Central Experiment Farm will be necessary to provide the desirable transition. Exceptional architectural design will be required for all buildings to ensure the highest streetscape quality and to create a unique skyline that symbolizes the south western gateway of the future expanded downtown. Integration with the O-Train/future LRT station will be required for buildings immediately adjacent to the station. Opportunities for a nationally significant building will be explored on lands owned by the National Capital Commission south of Carling Avenue east of the O-Train/future LRT. The Station Area will be the priority area for public realm improvement as outlined in Section 5 of this Plan. It is divided by Carling Avenue and the O-Train/future LRT corridor into four two integrated quadrantsareas. Northeast QuadrantAreas east of the O-Train/future LRT a. High-rise mixed-use development with a height greater than 30 storeys and up to a maximum of 55 storeys may be permitted on properties fronting Carling Avenue east of the O-Train/future LRT and west of Norfolk Avenue with a reduction in height from the O-Train/future LRT and Carling Avenue intersection towards the north and the east. b. High-rise mixed-use development up to a height as detailed in Schedule B of this Plan may be permitted on properties south of Adeline Street. c. Low-rise predominantly residential development up to a height of four storeys may be permitted on properties on the north side of Adeline Street.